DISNEYLAND

We didn't just drop off the planet, nope, we were at Disneyland for the past week. We really needed a break from the snow so away we went to sunnier places. As far as weather goes, it was perfect. This was our first time at Disneyland and it was wonderful. We've been to Disney World in Orlando about a year and a half ago, so our expectations were high. It was just as magical.

Julianne absolutely hated the characters. I wish I had gotten a picture of her standing off to the side. Jesse was the first one we saw at the park and you would have thought she was going to eat Sophia alive the way Julianne acted. She was screaming at the top of her lungs and stamping her feet. Miguel was off riding Soarin with Gabriela and I had the two little ones. Once Jesse left, she was fine, but wouldn't you know it, Woody comes passing by and she flipped out again.

I took the girls on Toy Story Mania by myself and this is how they thought they should were their glasses.

Carousells were a huge hit with my girls. Definately Julianne's favorite. She would scream everytime she had to get off.

Minnie Mouse was a family favorite. Julianne is obviously missing but everytime we saw her she would yell her name and point. I was hoping to try again on the last day at the park but never did. We'll just have to wait till next time.

If I had to describe this trip for the older girls, it would be a performing trip. It seemed like everytime I turned around, they were on stage. Here they got in on a toe tappin' jamboree with Princess Tiana and her New Orleans street band. Gabriela was hamming it up.

The haunted mansion but Julianne to sleep. She went in awake, and came out like this. So while she rested the gang enjoyed Mickey Mouse ice cream

The next day we drove out to the Santa Monica Pier and met up with Miguel's sister and her girls. I think the girls were more excited about this than Disneyland. It was an overcasted day, but not too cold. We ate lunch together and then let the girls go at the beach. THEY LOVED IT!!! I think they like that they could play and the adults weren't on top of them telling them what to do. We were totally unprepared, because we didn't think they would really play in the water. Well, we were wrong. By the end they all were in their shirts and underwear.

I have much better pictures than these at the beach, but I can't seem to get them to load. Maybe in another post.

The next day were were back at it at Disneyland. Dumbo is always a must.

The only real line we waited in to meet characters was with the fairies. This place was so stinkin' cute. You really felt like you were in Pixie Hollow.

Julianne cried again, but decided in the end to give her a high five. We are making some progress it seems.

We went to Ariel's Grotto to have dinner with the princesses. This is the way to do it folks. No waiting in line and you get dinner too. I do have to say, I enjoyed this more in Walt Disney World. It seemed really rushed here and the princesses weren't quite as friendly. I think Belle was having a bad day ;)

I have no idea why my kids are scowling in this picture.

Ariel broke Julianne in. First with a high five and then...we made contact. She actually gave her a hug and then you couldn't pry her away from her.

Julianne enjoying her lolli pop meatballs and spaghetti.

The girls got to be in the Celebrate Street Party Parade!

And Sophia got to be apart of the High School Musical show.

It was a fun, totally exhausting, and wonderful trip. The favorite ride ended up being the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. So, So, Good.

The Future of Humanitarianism

Today I had Gabriela all to myself while the other girls were napping. One of my favorite things to do is to get inside her little mind. I love to ask her questions just to see what she'll say or come up with. Well today didn't dissapoint at all. Here's how it went down:
Mom: "Gabriela what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Gabriela: Thinking for a minute then says, "Wow what if I grew up and was one of those big tall trees outside!"

Mom: "Well I don't that I want you to be a tree. You would be stuck in the same spot. And what if someone came and cut you down and used you for firewood, or furniture, or something else."

Gabriela: "That's o.k., because I can move. I'll just move away."

Mom: "That might scare me! If I saw a moving tree that would definately scare me and what if you fell down on me."

Gabriela: "Don't worry, I won't fall on you and you won't have to be scared because I'll just unzip myself and you will see me inside the tree and then you won't be scared anymore."

Seeing that this could go on and on, I asked her the original question again.

She thinks for a while and then says:

"I think I'm going to be a dentist."
Mom: "A dentist, huh?"

G: "I can fix people's teeth when they have a hole in them and people can come to me. Won't it be great if you had a dentist in your family?"

M: "That would be great. Do you still want to be a Mommy?" (That's what she told me the last time I asked her what she wanted to be)

G: "Yeah, I'm going to be a dentist and a Mommy."

M: "Who's going to watch your kids when you are at work?"

G: Thinking "You are! You are going to play with them when you are a grandma. I'm gonna work for like ten days and then I'll be back. But if someones teeth need fixing, I might have to go back."

M: " Are you still going to live in Utah?"

G: "Yeah, but if there is a place where people don't have a dentist then I might have to leave and go there. You know like Mexico or Atlantis. Do you know where Atlantis is? It's like over Disneyland and Georgia and over the ocean and past China. OH, and you have to cross FIRE LAND."

She then goes on and on about how there are dried fish on Fire Land because there is no water and we have to ride in a plane that gets burned a little bit and you get the idea. I to go and do something, so I had her draw a picture for me. (This is other thing I love to do with Gabriela. I tell her to draw a picture of something specific. So here is her illustration.) This is a helicopter taking us over Fire Land. We are dropping buckets on all the fire.

Makeovers

Well, I got pretty tired of seeing raggedy kids running around my house all day with hair in their faces, so I decided we needed a trip to the salon.
Gabriela's problem: hair grows forward and her bangs just hand in her face. Her hair was way too long.

Solution: short bangs and trim 3 inches off.

Sophia's problem: teeny tiny face and long long hair. She always likes it up and hates to have it brushed. She's my tender head.

Solution: chop it off. I love the bob. It fits perfectly with her personality and frames her small face. I LOVE IT!!!

Now Julianne, poor child, there is no hope. She did have a trim, but you would never know. Her hair does it's own thing. Short in the front and long in the back.

Oh, and one more note about this cute kid...SHE'S POTTY TRAINED! We've been good for about a week. We used Gabriela's trick and told her if she pooped in the potty, she could go to the store and pick a toy. Well, several days later she came and found me to report that she had done it. Since then, we haven't had any accidents. It's such a victorious feeling as a parent. Miguel got lucky this time, she picked this simple little light up spinning princess thing from the Disney Store. When Gabriela went she picked a really expensive Princess dress up costume. We got off easy this time.

Dear Crayola,

I would just like to send you a letter of thanks.

Thank you for allowing my children to express themselves.

Thank you for giving them a creative outlet.

Thank you for your brilliant colors.

Thank you for giving my children a means to decorate my whole house.

By this I mean:

Furniture

Walls

Clothes

Bodily parts

And most recently....................................MY CARPET!!!

Sincerely,

Lindsay Ruiz

Better than I had dreamed.

As I was pulling laundry out of the dryer and folding this morning in my unfinished laundry room, I was thinking about how this quirky little house was definately not the house I had dreamed of as a little girl. When you are growing up you try to imagine what life will be like. Remeber playing M.A.S.H....you pick your dream guy, with his dream occupation, where you will live, how many kids you will have, and so on and so forth. This old house did not make it on my dream sheet, however I started to think about the other things, and you know what...

My little family is better than I had dreamed. I couldn't ask for a more devoted husband. He has a job that allows him to pop in every now and again and have lunch with me. I couldn't have thought up cuter kids or that I would be lucky enough to have 3 girls. I live in a great neighborhood with great friends. I've had some great experiences, so you know what, I think the Lord's plan is much better than my own.

My latest creation.

The girls loved their Halloween dresses I made so much, that I decided to make them Valentine dresses. Especially since they insisted they wear their Halloween ones out and about. I think these turned out darling!

Dropping Hints

“I asked several bishops what self-reliance skills the sisters in their wards needed most, and they said budgeting. Women need to understand the implications of buying on credit and not living within a budget. The second skill bishops listed was cooking. Meals prepared and eaten at home generally cost less, are healthier, and contribute to stronger family relationships.”2
Spensor W. Kimball

This was highlighted on the church website today on my computer. I usually close windows left open by Miguel without paying much attention, but today I happened to take a look. NICE!!! What a way to start dropping hints. I love this man, but sometimes just have to shake my head.

Update on Everest.

Just thought I'd give and update on my triathalon training. Today I'm not feeling so hot. I went and biked the ten miles in 40 minutes. That's great. I've hit me goal there, however I then proceeded to jump on the treadmill and do the 5K. My legs were so ackward. I learned fast that you use totally different muscles when you run than you do biking. After walking for about 5 minutes and trying not to fall down I picked up my running. I was surprised that cardiovascularly, I was doing pretty good. I could breath and felt pretty strong. I ran for a good eight minutes (all of you marathoners don't laugh). That was so good for me. Up until this point I've only been running for about five before I have to stop and walk. I walked again and then decided to push it and run straight for the next half mile. I did it and at a fast speed. By the end I had shaved four minutes off my total time. I ended up doing a little over two miles before I had to jump off and then get the girls from daycare.

That was when reality hit. I felt so light headed and sick to my stomach. That was a wake up call. Somebody better have bathroom and a place to lay down when I finish this race, because WOW, I'm going to need it.

That being said, this was probably the most physically demanding workout of my life, so Woo-hoo for me! Onward and upward baby!

Now I'm at home and my muscles hurt and I discovered that the crimson tide showed up while I was running today too, so I'm in Miguel's sweatshirt, my sweatpants, on Advil, and laying on my couch. I don't think the rest of the day will be too productive.

Someday, I'm just going to check myself in.

It's true. The way I see it, one of these days I'm either going to check myself into a nice hotel, kick my feet up, go to the pool, slip on my sunglasses, and just fall asleep to the sound of the waves arriving on shore OR I'm going to check myself into the mental hospital.

It's just been one of those days. I want to make sure it's recorded so I can look back in five years and laugh. But in all actuality, I'll probably be writing similar posts like this in five years.

Here's how the day has gone so far:

I'm woken up this morning by my three year old requesting me to go and hunt down her lost pacifier which has fallen between the bed and the wall.

I start nudging Miguel and tell him to go find it. He never budges and the longer she stands there waiting for us, the less likely she's actually going to fall back asleep. If I ignore her and hope that he will go help her it just infuriates me all the more. He still doesn't budge. I usually fling back the covers and stomp to the room, making sure everyone knows (especially Miguel) that I'm tired of doing this all the time.

But this morning I think he eventually got up to go look for it. He never found it, which means she comes and gets in the bed with me and snuggles up and falls asleep. I don't mind her there. It's kind of endearing.

We had dance this morning and the PLAN was to get everyone fed and then into the shower. While I was in the kitchen making breakfast, Sophia calls me and tells me she needs my help. I go around the corner and there she is with her underwear at her feet and she's telling me she had an accident. She pooped her pants. I got onto her pretty bad for that and got her changed. I then go back to the kitchen to finish preparing breakfast for everyone. Sophia actually eats all of her food for a change. Maybe she was trying to redeem herself.

I then put Gabriela into the tub and lock the bathroom door. Once I've got her bathed I open the door, send her out to go get her clothes on, and then call Sophia in for her turn. Well she comes wabbling in saying she peed her pants. No, no pee, she pooped them again! That was it for me. She was getting the cold shower. She did not like that one bit, buddy, let me tell you. I wet her down from head to toe and then I eventually warmed it up. She knows that's what she gets if she has an accident, so it wasn't to big of a shock for her.

All the while, I'm thinking to myself, "is this really how my day is going to go?" Needless to say I didn't get a shower. I load all of us up and we are off to dance class. Julianne had a funky, slept on hair do, that was embarrassing. It looked more like long horns on top of her head, since the ponytail holders had slid out to the tips of her hair. We survive dance class. Gabriela did get in trouble from her teacher for picking up Sophia and carrying her around. Gabriela said, "I can't help it. I just love her sooo much!" She wasn't singing that tune earlier this morning.

After dance, I must have not been in my right mind, because I took them out to lunch by myself. Lately I just haven't been in the mood to cook, so we went and checked out a new restaurant that has noodles. I corral them into a booth in the back and I have to say Gabriela and Sophia, who are all chummy now, did pretty good. Julianne...NOPE. Nightmare. She was up and down and laying in the booth and staring at the people on the other side and then hits her head and starts screaming. I should know better, but no, I have to keep repeating my mistakes. What makes me think that I can go to a restaurant with three preschoolers by myself, when I won't even go near a grocery store with them. Maybe I think I'm being defeated if I can't go out. Maybe just stubborn.

Oh but it gets better. (Maybe I was on a suicide mission) I went to Joann's fabric store. I had to pick up a few things I needed to finish a dress and I must have sounded like an auctioneer as fast as I was talking. Don't touch that. Stay where I can see you. Be quiet. Put that back. And on and on and on.

Then I dared to go to a swim shop to look for some goggles. I threatened their lives if they didn't behave. Yeah right. It was a tiny little specialty shop and there were two dressing rooms in the back. There go Gabriela and Sophia, in and out of them, slamming the doors, touching everything. Hiding under the racks. Oh my word, I wanted to die. The lady is trying to talk to me and I'm apologizing. I tried to get them to sit down in the floor away from everything. I eventually gave up. I told the lady I would be back with three less people someday. Who knows when that will be?

So needless to say, I'm mentally exhausted. I sure hope one day I can check into that nice hotel on the beach and enjoy a little peace and quiet. Just for a day or two, and then I can come back reenergized and ready to dive into the mayhem again.

Images of Motherhood.

So I came across a photo contest asking for images of motherhood. The good the bad and the ugly. As I was searching through my photo archives, these are the pictures I thought most described me as a Mom. What a great adventure we have the priveledge to take in this life. They make us into better people!

You learn to comfort, when they are hurt.
You learn to join in all the mayhem.

You learn to just let go. Even if it means modesty ;)

You learn to be silly.

You learn to be serendipitous.

You learn to do embarassing things.

You learn to share your passions.

You learn to be smothered and to love it.

You learn to laugh some more.

You learn to see the good in others and to love unconditionally.

Thanks to my babies for teaching me so much.

I LOVE YOU!!!